Comments on: Ready to Ditch GrandCentral? Take a Look at PhoneFusion One

By: Bianca Hennings

Bianca Hennings — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:07:48 +0000

P.S. Sorry for the typos’ in the previous post. My brain was moving faster than my fingers. That’s a good thing, right?

By: Bianca Hennings

Bianca Hennings — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:06:32 +0000

Hi Judi.. just wanted to let your forum know that Fusion Voicemail Plus was released out of BETA today and the vibrate sync issue Derrick posted about has been resolved in this release! Also – for James Kirk – I so appreciate your feedback. Just note that PhoneFusion offers over 80 featured (Virtual PBX, inbound/outbound fax, meet me conferencing, etc.) which are really the major differentiators between PF and GC. The bottom line is that we want to profess UDC (User Defined Communications) as opposed to UC so that to allow the “user” to be able to pick and choose what the want to use, how, when and where to use it. Great forum Judi! Keep up the great work.

By: James T. Kirk

James T. Kirk — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:13:51 +0000

What a load of BS. This original post / section reads like an infomercial. Very biased toward PhoneFusion. $9.95 per month and another 10 dollars more to eliminate the spam my callers would get if I dont pay $20 per month. No thank you.

Look GrandCentral has been free while in beta. I am glad of the glacial pace of GrandCentral since Google acquired it because of the beta it remains free of costs.

I use the click to call daily. It is fantastic, and free (so far). I even have a dialer application on my Nokia N800 so I can dial out very similar to a regular phone call (without the Nokia app. I’d first have to add a contact to the GC interface online). The only two things that are a tiny tiny inconvenience is that with GC click to call, I cannot send DTMF tones after I am in a call, and when i answer incoming calls I have to press 1 to accept the call (but I have gotten used to that). Why would I pay PhoneFusion $9.95 + $10 per month ($220 per year) for something which GrandCentral provides free? Even MagicJack is only $29 the 1st year and $19.95 each year thereafter. Then there is Skype, Gizmo5, and so many other low cost choices. Why pay PhoneFusion 3.5 cents a minute when Gizmo5 is under 2 cents a minute or Webacall is 1.1 cents a minute. Skype isn’t SIP but it does work well and it is only 2.1 cents a minute to most of the planet.

I have no affiliation with any of the above services that I have praised above, I am just a user. Actually Webacall for outgoing has been very nice when I needed to send DTMF after the call was placed (press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish). Skype and Gizmo5 are decent also. Calls into my GC number ring my Nokia N800, my converted Sunrocket phones and my Cell phone simultaneously and it costs me zero a minute and zero a month, and no taxes. With all the low cost options now out there (some 100% free) why would anyone pay $220 a year for PhoneFusion?

I hope GrandCentral doesn’t change whatsoever for the next 10 years. It works awesome just the way it is, and is free! My fear is that when GC starts to move forward, the party will be over, making me sad.

By: lcarter

lcarter — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:39:30 +0000

Interesting service.
But to test it for myself I need access to
Grand Central. I need someone to invite me to the beta. Can you send me an invite?

By: Derrick

Derrick — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:55:58 +0000

The PhoneFusion vmail app for the blackberry doesn’t have the capability to vibrate. That’s a deal breaker for those of us who are in meetings all day…

By: Esteaban

Esteaban — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:15:29 +0000

Yes, I will check out PhoneFusion. I see the comments in the GrandCentral group, some people are hoping against hope that the reason for the NON-action is that soon something grand is going to happen to GrandCentral.

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:12:13 +0000

Does PhoneFusion’s voicemail allow the caller to specify whether the message is urgent or not? Thus the account holder could receive an SMS for an urgent message, but not be bothered for a routine message.

This feature seems to be VERY hard to find!

Thanks.

By: Michael Collins

Michael Collins — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:42:26 +0000

As a current GC user (pre-Google), the one thing that won’t make me switch is the capability of categorizing callers as either SPAM, or the ability to block callers altogether.

Oh, and there’s that little problem about changing my phone number. ;-)

By: jshultz

jshultz — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:33:48 +0000

My problem is that I have given out my grandcentral number to everyone. Everybody has it and I can’t take it with me. That, for me, is a deal breaker to switching. I don’t want to have to give everyone a new number. That was the whole point of GC. One number for life.

By: Judi Sohn

Judi Sohn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:52:01 +0000

Chuck, I agree. I even asked the PhoneFusion folks about voice recognition when we spoke last week and they said, predictably, no can do.

By: Chuck Lawson

Chuck Lawson — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:23:16 +0000

I’m also a GrandCentral user, and like Jack, my big complaint is having to hit the button. It’s not only a pain in the car, but it means I can’t wander away from my desk with my wireless headset since I can’t press “1″ to pick up the call.

On the other hand, I still want the call screening. What I really want is an option to do voice recognition — instead of pressing one, let me say “one” or “answer” or something like that.

If that feature was available, I’d move from GrandCentral in a heartbeat.

By: Judi Sohn

Judi Sohn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:24:53 +0000

Jack, yes, you read it right. In PhoneFusion you can set a destination line to auto accept. When you do this, you lose access to some other features, such as answering machine interception, and the ability to reject/screen calls. When a PhoneFusion call comes in on a line set to auto accept, you hear a tone which lets you know it’s a PhoneFusion call, and then you just start talking. It has nothing to do with my handset.

By: Jack Hubbert

Jack Hubbert — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:12:17 +0000

I am a current GrandCentral user and share your disappointment since the Google purchase. I tried to sign up for a free PhoneFusion account but ended up with a pay account – no worries it is month to month so I can cancel anytime.

One of my complaints about GrandCentral is that you need to hit the keypad to answer the phone which is a challenge when driving. I got the impression from your article that there is a way in PhoneFusion to set up an auto answer and get around this but perhaps you were just referring to a feature of your handset?

Thanks for an interesting review.

By: Bianca Hennigns

Bianca Hennigns — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:40:21 +0000

Hi Judi!

Bianca here from PhoneFusion. I saw Sam’s comment and wanted to let you know that PhoneFusion can in fact terminate phone calls anywhere in the world! As for having local international numbers, no, not yet, HOWEVER, if using PhoneFusions Phone Adapter, users can make a call from any Internet Broadband connection around the world. We are always welcoming the feedback and searching for ways to better our product and will be sure to keep you posted on any new enhancements for feature releases!

By: Judi Sohn

Judi Sohn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:12:11 +0000

Sam, I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have been clear on which countries the service is available and I’m waiting for clarification from the company. I will update the post once I have that information.

GrandCentral is also only available in the United States, and that is the point-of-reference I was taking.

By: Sam Denby

Sam Denby — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:41:14 +0000

You have an international audience. If you are discussing a US-only service, please make that clear in the first paragraph. Saves a lot of time.